This week we're relaxing to a delightful piece of writing about nightingales by Dominic Couzens accompanied by the birds themselves – and read by Fergus Collins. Nightingales is from a collection of BBC Countryfile Magazine articles published new book Countryfile: A Year in the Countryside introduced by John Craven and edited by podcast host Fergus Collins.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Read by Fergus Collins.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

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Join Plodcast host Fergus and adventurer Phoebe Smith as they take a day-long pilgrimage across the Oxfordshire countryside to explore spring nature - and experience the healing power of walking with purpose. It's a beautiful experience among the skylarks and red kites.

Don't miss Phoebe's fabulous new book about her life-changing experiences while on pilgrimage: Wayfarer: Life, Love and Loss and Britain's Ancient Paths

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected].

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're wandering beside a lake in early spring sunlight. A newly arrived chiffchaff sings from nearby willows while the plaintive calls from a scattered flock of Canada geese rise from the lakeside meadows. Celandines and marsh marigolds dance in the fringes.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Fergus Collins, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Step out into spring with Plodcast host Fergus for a wander on his local hill to find who's up and about in the wildlife world on this early spring morning. Will we find the much longed for adders and merlins? Join Fergus for a mindful meander through woodland, moor and vale.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected].

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're beside a stream at the bottom of a wooded valley. You're nearing the end of a long walk so you pause to rest. But soon the rushing water whispers spells and ancient charms of such power that time drifts away.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Fergus Collins, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to spring on the Plodcast and a new season of nature-themed episodes! But first, we have an exciting development! Musician Blair Dunlop and songwriter Duncan Haskell have created an utterly charming theme tune for the Plodcast – so host Fergus met them in a wild corner of Bristol to hear the music live and talk about the inspiration behind the songwriting. It's pure magic - with a natural accompaniment of wild birdsong. Discover more about Blair's music, his new album and upcoming tour dates on his website blairdunlop.com

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected].

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're on the edge of a the ruins of a Roman town lost in the Hampshire countryside. Only the crumbling outer walls remain, enclosing daffodil-fringed meadows. You plunge down an avenue of trees to emerge into a wide, oval space. You stop beathless, this is the amphitheatre. Half expecting the clash of weapons of ghosts of gladiators – you hear only the stirrings of spring.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Fergus Collins, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we're spending the day on a waterway in Gloucestershire in search of a creature that has spawned a thousand myths and monster stories – we're hoping to meet the mighty pike, Britain's largest predatory freshwater fish.

Angler and TV presenter Will Millard is joined by the Plodcast team of Fergus and Jack – and later Annabel – to see if they can get close to one of these beautiful and extraordinary creatures.

Plus we discuss the ethics of fishing – is it cruel?

Listen on for a truly extraordinarily tense end to this season of Plodcasts.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected].

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're beside a small pond where toads are thronging the margins, jostling and tootling as they prepare to spawn. Through the magic of a hydrophone, you can hear the extraordinary symphony of the toads' underwater world.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded and introduced by Alice Boyd. Image by Getty

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we're off to the Roman town of Silchester deep in the Hampshire countryside. Plodcast host Fergus meets legendary broadcaster Matthew Bannister to talk about folk music and the British landscape and his own podcast: Folk on Foot.

Plus, Matthew reflects on his astonishing career with the BBC – and has advice for the corporation and its future.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: [email protected].

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're in the Bannau Brycheiniog – and an overnight snowfall has dusted the hilltops. It's melting fast so we've headed to the nearest peak for a satisfying dog walk along snow-covered paths marred only by the footprints of foxes and pipits. A skylark rises and sings of warmer days.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Fergus Collins, and introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices